September 19, 2007

What to Watch: Coming Up on Cable

Seth Arenstein relives near-WWIII oblivion via Discovey Times Channel's Soviet War Scare 1983.

Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein

• WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5

Soviet War Scare 1983, 9pm, Discovery Times Channel

Fictional movies about Cold War-era spies have nothing on this excellent special about the near-fatal nuclear attack on the United States by the Soviet Union.

Those younger than 30 needn’t worry. The filmmakers provide ample context and explain how and why this incident happened. To do this, they’ve managed to gain access to senior Soviet and U.S. intelligence officials, as well as the Soviet air force rank-and-file soldier whose level-headed reaction to what appeared to be a U.S. attack, but was actually part of a NATO war game, saved the U.S., if not civilization. Of course the interviews with former Soviet officials, many now quite old, are often revelatory, but perhaps the most fascinating insights come former CIA chief Robert Gates and Topaz, the German spy who infiltrated NATO, flooding the Soviets with information about the alliance.

Despite the gravity of thermonuclear war, the special manages to evoke a muted smile or two. The story of Samantha Smith, the 10-year-old American girl who wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, urging him not to start a war against the U.S., is recounted, complete with clips of the youngster appearing on NightLine with Ted Koppel. The other chuckle comes from Gates, who notes that the CIA was able to intercept the telephone conversations between aged members of the ruling Politburo as they drove to visit Andropov in the Kremlin hospital. “They used to gossip about their favorite soccer teams,” Gates tells us. And since they, like Andropov, were nearly octogenarians, they spoke of their health ailments. “It sometimes got graphic,” Gates says.